When you reveal to someone that you are an artist, be it your friends, family, or the occasional stranger, they all are amazed. The ability for you to be able to render a simple circle into a three-dimensional image is truly mind blowing. But what they fail to understand is how you got to this point.

You did not wake up one day and have the drawing skills of Leonardo Da Vinci or Albrecht Dürer (but if you did, then this obviously does not apply to you). It most likely took months, even years, before you could come up with something remotely adequate. So, all you artists and people who admire them, this article is for you.

1. We aren't always brimming with creativity every waking moment of the hour.

For a majority of the time, when I am drawing, I would say 50 percent is me drawing the same things over and over again, which in this case, is boys with afros. I draw things I am comfortable with, and to a non-artist, that may seem boring and counterproductive. Every artist has their default. It is something they draw regardless because it brings them comfort. It is also a relief when we are trying to draw something new and it is just not working out.

2. We fail at drawing a lot.

To somebody who says they can't draw (which I don't believe because everyone can draw), they might laugh at the idea that we fail at the one thing we like to do. I, myself, am pretty critical about what I draw sometimes, especially if I have high expectations for it. To a passerby, they love it. Yet I'll notice that my line width was too thick, the light source is not clearly defined, or perhaps the composition was not the strongest. Either way, it gives me a chance to improve on it in the next piece.

3. Some artists don't work well under pressure.

This point is mainly to the people who want to see an artist's skills on the spot. To some artists it sounds like, "Can you draw me right now?" and "Can you draw that?" Not to say artists aren't pleased by an opportunity to showcase their skills, but many want to showcase their skills right and not be rushed. Most of the times when people want to see you sketch, they want to see something along the lines of an almost finished piece which, depending what kind of artist you are, could work for or against you. Just keep in mind that every artist works at their own pace, one artist might have a nearly completed piece in 20 minutes while for another artist it might take 2 hours.

4. We do like to get paid.

Yes, artists do like money. It gets us food, art supplies, and mostly... food. Artists will make a piece and give it to someone for a special occasion. I have done this many times for friends and family, but when a person asks me to do an extensive project that will take a long period of planning and execution and take a large chunk of my time, I would like to get a little bit of reward. Some people take artists' kindness for weakness, assuming that, just because we passionately pursue this medium, we would do it for nothing. True, we love art; but, we also deem it as valuable because we have put a lot of time and effort into something we love. And it shows that you are putting an investment into our art, which keeps most artists going.

5. We are always learning from other artists.

We swap techniques, and we use different mediums based on the recommendation from other fellow artists. We are all trying to help each other refine our craft. We all cry at trying to make both eyes on a face look the same, and seeing if the perspective for a certain pose is right. It is a huge collaborative effort, and if an artist says he or she learned everything by themselves, suggest that they find a collective—because doing art is a lifestyle, and you can't solve all of the problems by yourself.

But as artists, we can't get too mad or frustrated when people don't understand what we had to do to get to our current skills where we are comfortable enough with them. Everything takes time and patience and we are constantly learning.

Till next time,

Tchüss!